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Gawain
Name: Cocius Gavanicus Jannus or simply, Gawain Age: 29 Race: Nibenese father, Nordic/Breton mother Gender:Male Height: 5 feet 8 inches Birthsign: The Warrior Appearance: Gawain is about the size of your average Imperial, standing a little under six feet tall and fairly stout in musculature. Unlike the Colovian west, however, he has followed his father's roots and stuck to the Nibenese way of appearance. His skin, which is tanned from many days of outdoors labor, is also heavily tattooed in flowing, yet geometric designs. One tattoo in particular can be noticed regardless of what he wears, for it starts two inches above his left eye and separates into two lines which extend for another three inches below the eye. His hair is dark brown in color, about the same shade as the bark of the fir, pine, and other evergreens that make up most of the forests of Skyrim. Sticking to the Nibenese style, Gawain keeps it a medium length, letting it extend to his shoulders, but keeping it out of his eyes. Along with the tattoos, several scars mar his skin, but their stories are not notable. Class: Dog breeder Skills and known spells: Can calm creatures, perform some minor healing on himself and animals, and can also detect nearby animals. Gawain is also fairly adept at tracking and is skilled with the use of the war axe, while also being adequate with a short blade. His preferred method of combat is to dual wield two small axes, but will use whatever he has at hand, when the situation calls for it. Clothing/armor: When the occasion calls for armor, Gawain dons an almost complete set of Leather armor. The only pieces missing are the shield, which he has no use for, and the helmet. In lieu of the typical leather helmet, Gawain uses a family heirloom that has been passed down through seven generations and has been cared for with the utmost care, for it is extremely rare. 'It' is a Dragonscale helmet. The family story says that Gawain's ancestor once saved the life of a master smith from a rival Nibenese hill tribe and to repay him, the smith disclosed to Gawain's ancestor the whereabouts of a full set of Dragonscale armor that had been buried with his mentor. Gawain's ancestor had set out with a few brothers and they had tackled the tomb and defeated several undead guardians, only to find that the helmet was all that was salvageable, for the rest of the suit was worn and far beyond repair. In general though, Gawain simply wears a belted, dark green tunic and dark brown pants with a cape made of the pelts of two snow wolves. Weapons: Gawain has a certain affinity for axes, with war axes in particular, so those are his go-to weapons. When he knows that the fighting will be tough, he wields two Orcish War Axes that he had found in a cave when he was a younger man. However, those are rather impractical to carry around all the time, so instead, he carries two axes that he designed himself. They appear to be nothing more than shortened wood-cutting axes, but in reality, they are much more. They can still split wood with ease, but the heads of the axes have been lightened and the wood of the handles are denser than most, making them very well balanced. Carved into the bottom of each handle is the head of a wolf, which he carved himself. The breeder is quite deadly with them. He also has several other 'weapons' if you wish to call them such. His profession of dog breeding has given him several animals that are fearless, aggressive, and extremely protective. These dogs he keeps away from the rest of his animals, due to their nature. There is also a wolf pup that Gawain found on his journey to Valton, and he intends on keeping it and training it as well. Miscellaneous items: A small satchel of jerky bits stays at his side, along with his coinpurse. He also owns miscellaneous cooking and eating utensils along with other everyday household items that stay in his wagon until he finds a house. Leashes and collars for all of his dogs are kept in a chest, along with blankets for them and his own bedroll. Personality: Gawain's father was a rather eccentric warrior and son of the chief of a Nibenese tribe near the Corbolo River and Lake Poppad. This did a number of things to and for Gawain. Following in his father's footsteps, he became rather eccentric as well, and had a feeling of entitlement about many things, as did a lot of the Nibenese. However, this feeling of entitlement did not keep him from working for what he got, and so he became kind of an oxymoron, feeling as if he deserved something that he should not have to work for, but worked for it anyway. His mother, who was a Reachwoman, attempted to coax the entitlement out of him, along with civilizing him some more, but the young boy would immediately accuse her of being "too Colovian" and she would only shake her head and let out a sigh. However, as the years passed, Gawain lost some of his entitlement, but not his hard-working mentality. His love of tattoos and philosophy though, which were standard among Nibenese, never left, and while it may be odd for a Dog Breeder to discuss philosophy, it was common for him. Along with that, he did not lose the mindset that he was better than most other races, especially the Colovians, for whom he bore a special disdain. Major flaw: This would more than likely be his personality, since it leads to him being rather anti-social and 'uppity.' He also seems to have a ceremony for everything, which most people feel gets old after a while. Background: Coming from a Nibenese father, and a Reachwoman, Gawain has had some interesting cultural forces that played a part on his life. He was born to the equivalent of a Nibenese prince, and was therefore brought up as a Nibenese noble, regardless of how little power his family and title had outside of the small, yet very profitable village his tribe inhabited. His father had found his mother when they were both nearing the age of twenty, when his father had taken a few cousins to the Colovian Highlands, looking for adventure and had ended up slightly north in the northeast of Hammerfell, just south of its border with High Rock. It was love at first sight, he had been told. She had been the daughter of a retired adventurer and mage and so had known and learned a small bit of magic. It was that magic that she taught their son, Gawain. When he was around ten, his father became the head man in the village and gave Gawain his first dog. It was a purebred wolfhound from Skyrim named Forsta, and Gawain became immediately intrigued with the dog. As the years passed, he was taught how to fend for himself should it ever be needed, and also how to fight with a weapon. Originally, his favored weapons were two long knives, but when he traded them for axes one day, on a whim, they just flowed in his hands and he knew immediately that they were right. He had never much liked the shield, and his father had not used one either, nor had his father before him. In his position, it was necessary for Gawain to learn some diplomacy, since he would have to deal with other Nibenese "noble's" in the Basin and Valley, so it was that at the age of eighteen, he was fluent in the common tongue and the old tongue of the Nibenese, and could broker deals with the other "noble's" without breaking a sweat. For a while, he lived the easy life of a prince, never wanting for much, sleeping with whatever woman he chose, besting his friends and the other men at arms in combat, drinking profusely, and amassing a pack of dogs that almost seemed to obey commands that he had not even spoken, for his love of dogs had never waned and Forsta had constantly stayed by his side. When he was twenty-six however, a smaller Nibenese tribe raided the village in the night, and had killed the majority of Gawain's family. Gawain had only survived because one of his newer dogs had run off and he and his pack had gone looking for it. Upon their return, they found the village burning and in ruins, with dead bodies scattering the streets. After several days of mourning, the young man had found a wagon and filled it with what was left of his possessions and some other miscellaneous items that he had found still in-tact in other homes before proceeding to hit the road and head north. He knew that his mother had come from the Reach, and so he figured that he would head there, but after reaching the southern edge of Skyrim, he heard rumors that a new hold was being established and settlers were encouraged. Gawain figured that it would be no worse than where he was already headed, and so it was that he came to Valton.